Dartmouth surrenders to threat of 'physical action' and offers $31 million

Contrary to what I reported, Dartmouth College did not allocate $31 million and expand other programs in direct response to the “Freedom Budget” issued by the anonymous students. In reality, the statement by President Phil Hanlon and Provost Martin Wybourne outlined ways in which the university was already addressing concerns of diversity and increasing funding for financial aid students. These initiatives began before the “Freedom Budget” was sent to the administration.

“The money that you reference and initiatives that you reference are not being done in response to the ‘Freedom Budget,’” Dartmouth’s vice president for media relations Justin Anderson tells me. “They have been in the works and they have been discussed publicly. They are not being done because of the Freedom Budget in any way, shape, or form.”

Original blog:

Dartmouth College is teaching its student body a terrible lesson: physical threats against the rich pay off big-time. Alec Torres writes in National Review Online:

Having been threatened with “physical action” by an unknown number of anonymous students if it did not respond to a list of more than 120 demands, the Dartmouth administration promptly surrendered last week and is planning on spending at least $31 million to satisfy the students’ will.

College President Phil Hanlon and Provost Martin Wybourne made a statement last Thursday in response to the so-called “Freedom Budget” — the eight-page letter and list of demands made by the anonymous students – saying, “Diversity is one of the cornerstones of our academic community and, like you, we want Dartmouth to be a campus where our students gain the confidence and skills to work and lead in a global society.”

The initial student letter called for greater diversity in the faculty and post-doctoral program as well as an increase in enrollment for Black, Latino, and Native American students to 10 percent of the student population each. The anonymous students also demanded that all students be required to take classes on “social justice” and “marginalization,” that gender-neutral housing be available for all students, and that restrictions on the use of the term “illegal immigrants” be imposed.

The college, which has a $3.7 billion endowment, is planning to spend the $31 million blackmail on several programs:

Call me a cynic, but I doubt that conservative perspectives are considered part of the diversity intended, even though conservative faculty members on Ivy League campuses are hard to find among all the liberals and leftists.

Another $30 million will also be spent to bring in more minorities for the post-doctorate program.

Post-docs are a way of bringing people to campus and checking them out without the fuss and bother of an actual faculty hiring, which could lead to awkward situations when faculty contracts are not renewed, or tenure is not offered. As a time-limited contract with no expectation of a permanent position, minorities can be evaluated with less risk of blowback when unqualified people are not taken on permanently.

The college also promised to provide funds for financial aid students to participate in off-campus programs, will expand the E.E. Just program to support the academic success of minority students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and promised to “do more.”

Ed Lasky and I both believe it is possible that the anonymous threat may have been a satire. If so, the joke will be on the Dartmouth leadership which rushed to surrender. Dartmouth has embraced political correctness so fully that it is beyond satire.

Contrary to what I reported, Dartmouth College did not allocate $31 million and expand other programs in direct response to the “Freedom Budget” issued by the anonymous students. In reality, the statement by President Phil Hanlon and Provost Martin Wybourne outlined ways in which the university was already addressing concerns of diversity and increasing funding for financial aid students. These initiatives began before the “Freedom Budget” was sent to the administration.

“The money that you reference and initiatives that you reference are not being done in response to the ‘Freedom Budget,’” Dartmouth’s vice president for media relations Justin Anderson tells me. “They have been in the works and they have been discussed publicly. They are not being done because of the Freedom Budget in any way, shape, or form.”

Original blog:

Dartmouth College is teaching its student body a terrible lesson: physical threats against the rich pay off big-time. Alec Torres writes in National Review Online:

Having been threatened with “physical action” by an unknown number of anonymous students if it did not respond to a list of more than 120 demands, the Dartmouth administration promptly surrendered last week and is planning on spending at least $31 million to satisfy the students’ will.

College President Phil Hanlon and Provost Martin Wybourne made a statement last Thursday in response to the so-called “Freedom Budget” — the eight-page letter and list of demands made by the anonymous students – saying, “Diversity is one of the cornerstones of our academic community and, like you, we want Dartmouth to be a campus where our students gain the confidence and skills to work and lead in a global society.”

The initial student letter called for greater diversity in the faculty and post-doctoral program as well as an increase in enrollment for Black, Latino, and Native American students to 10 percent of the student population each. The anonymous students also demanded that all students be required to take classes on “social justice” and “marginalization,” that gender-neutral housing be available for all students, and that restrictions on the use of the term “illegal immigrants” be imposed.

The college, which has a $3.7 billion endowment, is planning to spend the $31 million blackmail on several programs:

Call me a cynic, but I doubt that conservative perspectives are considered part of the diversity intended, even though conservative faculty members on Ivy League campuses are hard to find among all the liberals and leftists.

Another $30 million will also be spent to bring in more minorities for the post-doctorate program.

Post-docs are a way of bringing people to campus and checking them out without the fuss and bother of an actual faculty hiring, which could lead to awkward situations when faculty contracts are not renewed, or tenure is not offered. As a time-limited contract with no expectation of a permanent position, minorities can be evaluated with less risk of blowback when unqualified people are not taken on permanently.

The college also promised to provide funds for financial aid students to participate in off-campus programs, will expand the E.E. Just program to support the academic success of minority students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and promised to “do more.”

Ed Lasky and I both believe it is possible that the anonymous threat may have been a satire. If so, the joke will be on the Dartmouth leadership which rushed to surrender. Dartmouth has embraced political correctness so fully that it is beyond satire.